Thomas Bywater Smithies (27 August 1817 – 20 July 1883) was an English businessperson, radical publisher, editor, and campaigner for temperance and animal welfare. He was the founder and editor of the broadsheet periodical The British Workman.
Thomas Bywater Smithies | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 27 August 1817 York, England |
| Died | 20 July 1883 (aged 65) London, England |
| Resting place | Abney Park Cemetery, London, England |
| Other names | T. B. S.[1] |
| Occupation(s) | Businessperson, publisher, editor, activist |
| Known for |
|
| Mother | Catherine Smithies |
| Signature | |
 | |
Biography
editSmithies was born on 27 August 1817 in York, to James and Catherine Smithies, the second of ten children.[2] His mother was a campaigner for abolitionism, animal welfare and temperance. He converted to Methodism at age 15, joining the Methodist Society.[3] The following year, he started work at the Yorkshire Fire and Life Insurance Company.[4] He also worked as a Sunday school teacher and initiated missionary meetings specifically for children.[5] He became teetotal in 1837, aged 20.[4] Smithies additionally founded the first temperance society in York.[5]
In 1849, Smithies moved to London to become the manager of the Gutta Percha Company.[4] He formed the first Band of Hope in London at his friend Hannah Bevan's house and it included some of her neighbours and children.[6] In 1851, he published Sunday Scholars' Friend and the Band of Hope Review (1851–1937). This was followed by The British Workman in 1855; edited by Smithies.[7] Subsequent publications included The Infant's Magazine, The Children's Friend, The Family Friend, The Friendly Visitor, and The Weekly Welcome.[3]
In 1879, he published the Band of Mercy Advocate (1879–1934), a periodical for the Bands of Mercy movement, which was founded by his mother.[8]
On 20 July 1883, after a period of long illness, Smithies died of heart disease, aged 67.[3][4] He was buried with his mother in Abney Park Cemetery.[9]
Selected publications
edit- Illustrated Songs and Hymns for the Little Ones (1858; under the name Uncle John)
- Illustrated Sabbath Facts; or God's Weekly Gift for the Weary. Reprinted from the "British Workman" (1869–1883)[1]
- Gleanings for the Drawing-room, in Prose and Verse (1873)
- Illustrated Anecdotes and Pithy Pieces of Prose and Verse (1874)[10]
- The Earlham Series of Tracts (1880)[11]
- The "Starlight" Temperance series (1881)
References
edit- ^ a b "Illustrated Sabbath Facts ; or God's weekly gift for the weary. Reprinted from the "British Workman." [Edited by T.B.S. [i.e. Thomas Bywater Smithies.]". WorldCat.org. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
- ^ "Smithies, Thomas Bywater (1817–1883), campaigner for temperance and for animal welfare campaigner for animal welfare". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/74113. Retrieved 22 June 2020. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ a b c Stevenson, George John (1884). Methodist Worthies: Characteristic Sketches of Methodist Preachers of the Several Denominations, with Historical Sketch of Each Connexion. London: T. C. Jack. pp. 588–591.
- ^ a b c d "SMITHIES, Thomas Bywater (Editor, "British Workman")". BLT19: 19th-Century Business, Labour, Temperance, & Trade Periodicals. 19 July 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
- ^ a b "Smithies, Thomas Bywater". DMBI: A Dictionary of Methodism in Britain and Ireland. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
- ^ Phillips, Amanda (23 September 2004). "Bevan [née Bennett], Hannah Marishall (1798–1874), philanthropist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/45524. Retrieved 31 July 2020. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ "British Workman magazine". Archives Hub. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
- ^ "Animals". BLT19: 19th-Century Business, Labour, Temperance, & Trade Periodicals. 18 July 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
- ^ Pinching, Albert (9 June 2019). "Wood Green's Obelisk". Hornsey Historical Society. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
- ^ "Illustrated Anecdotes and pithy pieces of prose and verse. Compiled by T.B.S. [i.e. Thomas Bywater Smithies.]". WorldCat.org. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
- ^ "The Earlham Series of Tracts. Compiled by T.B.S. [i.e. Thomas Bywater Smithies.]". WorldCat.org. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
Further reading
edit- T. B. Smithies: Editor of "The British workman": A Memoir (1884) by George Stringer Rowe
- Mountjoy, Peter Roger (1985). "Thomas Bywater Smithies, Editor of the "British Workman"". Victorian Periodicals Review. 18 (2): 46–56. ISSN 0709-4698.
- Murray, Francis Allan (2007). Thomas Bywater Smithies and the British Workman: Temperance Education and Mass Circulation Graphic Imagery for the Working Classes, 1855-1883 (PhD thesis). University of Salford.